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Sunday, July 18, 2010

The Ultimate Custard Square Hunt - Petone Pak'n'Save, Wellington

A friend noticed a while back that Petone Pak'n'Save, where she does her weekly shopping, has an award for their custard squares. She did tell me about it but we're not often out that way and it hadn't quite made it high enough on my priority list to make a proper pilgrimmage! ;-) Anyway, today she dropped this off to me:

Nutritional information on a custard square - hmm, I'm not sure that's right! I don't think I want to know! Never mind, it's too small to read easily anyway. $1.98 is pretty cheap - it's pretty hard to find a custard square under $2 in this day and age! But will it live up to the hype?

It has chocolate icing - my friend did warn me of this when she handed the booty over - but perhaps it's good enough to transcend an inferior icing type. The filling looks very fluffy - reminiscent of the delicious Denheath ones, perhaps?

Well, I'm sad to say I don't think I would be proffering any awards to this morsel. The pastry was good - crisp, not soggy or dry - but the filling was incredibly sickly and tasted more of cream than custard. For perhaps the first time ever I was unable to finish a custard square - and it wasn't overly large. It was just too fatty and sickly and I couldn't do it. For anyone with any degree of uncertainty, I have what is usually an insatiable sweet tooth, and would probably astonish and disgust most of my readers with just how much sugar I can pack away if I put my mind to it - so it was not due to a low tolerance! Funnily enough, the chocolate icing was actually the nicest chocolate icing I've ever had on a custard square and helped mitigate the overwhelming sweetness to a small degree - but that wasn't enough to redeem it. Sorry, Pak'n'Save - I guess the judges of whatever competition you won liked it but I really didn't! I give it 4/10.

(but a big thank you to my lovely friend for thinking of me and making the effort to drop it off on her way home - even if it wasn't the best it did need to be reviewed - no custard square shall escape my scrutiny!)

Pak'n'Save Kilbirnie is located at 114-124 Jackson Street, Petone, ph 04 939 3663 (on the off chance you actually are game to try one!)

Oops, fixed that! I thought Kilbirnie would be closer but then my Wellington geography still leaves a lot to be desired and I guess that really wouldn't make sense for you! It is pretty funny that my least favourite so far was flaunting their success so much...

A couple of people at work were talking about Petone Pak n' Save having the best custard squares a few weeks ago and they rated them so highly that I almost considered going out there to get one! I'm so pleased you've dispelled the myth so I don't have make myself feel ill eating one!

LOVE this post series! I'm also a humungous fan of custard squares! Chocolate icing though? Say it ain't so! Is it really not that bad? Have you tried making custard squares? I found a "copy cat" recipe for Denheaths custard squares but having never eaten one I wouldn't know if it was authentic or not! :)

Nessie - thanks! I think the good people of New Zealand need to be able to locate a good custard square when the urge hits, I'd say it's almost a duty to report my findings. ;-) I'm not sure if I only liked the icing because of the awful filling, but normally I spurn it and I didn't mind this time. I have made them but not for a while and have been planning to - would love that recipe if you don't mind (mrscake.nz@gmail.com). :-)

I do apologise for any unpleasant side-effects - perhaps I need to post a warning at the top!

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All About Mrs Cake

Hi! I'm Rosa, a.k.a. Mrs Cake, and I live in Wellington, New Zealand. I love food in all its forms, my fabulous family, and a bit of good old-fashioned Kiwi DIY. This blog started around food but has evolved to include some other bits and pieces - I hope you'll join me for the journey! See more